Reikichi Kawamura

In Depression-era Japan, a courteous bus driver carries an eclectic group of passengers from the mountainous Izu to Tokyo.

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes...

The tale of a feudal swordsman who cynically takes no responsibility for anything, relegating it to others, and then taking the credit.

Directorial debut by Umetsugu Inoue, the famous director of Musicals

An early film by Kon Ichikawa

A Japanese wartime film directed by Yasushi Sasaki.

The story of a boy who befriends a lonely middle-aged man.

An errant salaryman's son gets lost until a man from the Tokyo tenements brings him to vendor Tane, who's reluctant to let the kid board.

An aging geisha, whose angry teenage son is ashamed of her profession, works alongside a young geisha, resentful of her family for forcing her into a...

1939 Japanese movie

1950s Japanese comedy.

A lost film by Masahiro Makino

A melodrama about an orphan and her mother who are separated and lose contact, but are later reunited.

Shinpachi Morimura, who was born in a fusuma craftsman's house, wants to join the Japanese navy. However, his father wants him to continue in the...

On vacation's eve, a boy is sent to the countryside to live with his uncle after his father is imprisoned and accused of embezzlement.

Otoku asks her brother Bunkichi to speak with her son Seiichi, a young man for whom sacrificed everything but who now seems to be headed for a...

The three-hour Ai yo jinrui to tomo ni are / Love, Be with Humanity (1931) starts as a satire of alienation in the world of money, develops into a...

Sabu Toshinobu is an archaeologist who has taken a liking to Kinuyo Tanaka, the daughter of an archaeologist at an inn in Izu, where he is visiting...

Sabu Toshinobu is an archaeologist who has taken a liking to Kinuyo Tanaka, the daughter of an archaeologist at an inn in Izu, where he is visiting...

A young yakuza student is led back to the straight and narrow path by his uncle.

Pretty Oshige is deceived by her first love. After this, she lives a hard lifestyle, working at a number of jobs. Her only pleasure is her nephew,...

Amusing masterpiece from director Yoshimura Kazusabu divided in two parts taken from the newspaper serial novel of Shishiko Shishi. Like in "Warm...

This was 1942, so it was a national policy film, no matter what you call it. But when the war was still on the winning side, there wasn't even a...

Three men vying for the same job end up chasing the same girl in this comedy-drama from noted Japanese director Yasujiro Shimazu.

Based on the serialized story "東京一代女" which appeared in Tokyo Shinbun. A geisha known for her dancing begins training with the Onnagata...

Pre-war Asakusa was a riotous district of cabarets, dance-halls and brothels - a striking backdrop for Shimazu's story of innocence and experience....

A man who works late hours at a deadening job lives together with his wife and his younger sister. The younger sister's a modern girl who's starting...

The poor novelist Yamamoto is writing his novel, determined and with a headband around his head. With him, the novelist who is always in trouble...

The story is centered around the devastating experiences of two villagers, Osaki Shuichi, and his cousin, Nishimiura Kinue, when they leave their...

A period piece about the love of a wealthy blind woman, a teacher of koto and shamisen, and her devoted manservant. Based on a novella by Tanizaki...

A period piece about the love of a wealthy blind woman, a teacher of koto and shamisen, and her devoted manservant. Based on a novella by Tanizaki...

Shigeo is an aspiring writer living with his girl friend Minako and hoping for success and a better tomorrow every day. Both live on what Minako...

A young doctor, Kozo Tsumura, falls for young nurse Katsue Takaishi. But she's got a secret: she's a widow with a son. Kozo and Katsue decide to run...

"The Dancing Girl of Izu" tells of the story between a young male student who is touring the Izu Peninsula and a family of traveling dancers he meets...

Uta’s mother died when she was six years old; her father she never met. She was forced to adopt a traveller’s life when her grandmother...

This pair of gentle yet witty and inventive comedies from the director of The Neighbour's Wife and Mine typify both the formal experimentation of...

In this comic sequel to Yoshimura Kozaburo's original, Minami no Kaze, ex-baron (Saburi Shin) is in Singapore where he meets an old friend who...

Shochiku melodrama about the loves of the humble people living in the poor tenament called the Ryuheiso.

A young student of traditional dance falls in love with a handsome young man who visits the dance school in order to take photographs.

Setsuko is unhappily married to Mimura, an engineer with no job and a bad drinking habit. She had always been in love with Hiroshi but both of them...

Adaptation of a novel by Yojiro Ishizaka, originally released in two parts.

Japanese Warmovie

A melodrama by noted auteur and father of director Yoshitaro Nomura, Hotei Nomura. This is apparently the first adaptation of Izumi Kyoka's The...

A young man rents an apartment in Tokyo and discover it was built by his father. He falls in love with the daughter of the mistress of the house and...

Japanese "kayo" film based on the song "Ieraishan" by Yoshiko Yamaguchi.

Hisshoka is a 1945 Drama film directed by four Japanese directors.

Jyuta, an honest owner of a taxi company, has a younger half-brother who is involved in the yakuza world and doesn’t get along well with his...

A hostile Chinese nurse (Yamaguchi) who works in an orphanage is won over by the care and commitment of the Japanese doctor (Sano) who treats her...

A Japanese comedy from the end of the silent era (it has music) from a popular series. A feud, a practical joke and romance are the set up for some...

A businessman’s daughter falls in love with one of her father’s employees.

The brothers of Children In The Wind deal with declining family fortunes: they must work when the father becomes sick, and eventually live with their...

Early Japanese sound film, a remake of Josef von Sternberg’s DOCKS OF NEW YORK set in Yokohama.

Japanese silent film.

Movie about a devoted and single woman and her daughter. The mother's nickname is "Bokuseki" (wooden head) because of his supposed stubbornness....

Three men fall in love with the same young girl who works in a tonkatsu restaurant in the Shitamachi district of Tokyo.

A melodrama about a businessman's relations with the three women in his life.

The 1929 Japanese film "Mother" which helped child actress Hideko Takamine become a star.

Episode in the life of a composer of a popular Japanese song.

Following the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine...

A wealthy family will not allow the military to grow crops on their fields due to their superstitious beliefs about their son's illness.

After the death of her husband, an elderly woman and her youngest, unmarried daughter are forced to sell their house to cover his debts and decide to...

The tale of a feudal swordsman who cynically takes no responsibility for anything, relegating it to others, and then taking the credit.

Two criminal brothers try to go straight but face opposition from one of their criminal cohorts. Considered to be a lost film.

A musical film made for the inauguration of Shochiku's Ofuna Studio, with an all-star cast of the era.

The film features the first scene with kissing in a Japanese film. Kiss scenes were encouraged by the American occupiers of Japan following World War...

The love of an older sister who worked as a geisha but decided to open a bar under the auspices of a millionaire

Japanese war movie.

A family story in the year of 1943 during the war. The director is Shunkai Mizuho, who worked on "Hibari no Circus Sad Kobato" starring Hibari Misora...

The movie follows a young woman (Kinuyo Tanaka), a daughter of a high-ranking businessman and his neglected mistress, as she struggles to ease her...

Kinuyo is a daughter of rice cracker shop in downtown. She fell in love with her sister's boyfriend. It is a story whose theme is warm human...

A film dealing with the comings and goings of individuals in the immediate postwar period.

In a small town, according to the homecoming of Professor Ishinaka, the youth culture group was overwhelmed to make a presentation for the summer...

Heinosuke Gosho evokes in this film the family conflicts engendered by the eternal problem of a father who projects his professional desires on the...

Hiromasa Nomura World War II era film

A story of a store that makes Tabi socks.

A 1937 Japanese film.